


Reckoning To Be Reckoned

by darkesky



Series: picking up the pieces [7]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, Gen, Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 04:48:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16298468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkesky/pseuds/darkesky
Summary: “Pettiness isn't the best reason to completely uproot your life," Chloe muses once she hears of North's new apartment search. Connor nods, brow furrowed slightly.North smiles bitterly and kicks the tip of her steel-toed boots against the table. "It's one hell of a motivator though."-Leadership isn't exactly the most straightforward thing, and North and Markus never saw eye-to-eye. She just never thought he'd abandon her.





	Reckoning To Be Reckoned

“I’m sorry.”

Markus delivers the words as a death sentence, making sure the phrases hang heavy in the air. Grinding through the rest of the practiced words, his eyes dart over her face as if searching for any sign of anger. She meets him with the same blankness a mirror possesses… After all, that’s where he must have practiced this. Again and again. Without even  _ thinking  _ he should tell her first.

Behind her back, she twists at the sleeves of her jacket and  _ somehow  _ resists the urge to ball her fists and swing.

Taking a deep breath, he finishes off as strong as possible. The words at the end waver ever so slightly and reveal his  _ actual  _ emotions. “I didn’t want to do this, but they thought it’d be better for you to hear it from a friend.”

Once upon a time, the lines were clear-cut. The humans were the villains, the enemies, the ones who destroyed. The androids were the heroes. The politics of it didn’t become so convoluted. 

Now, Markus has new androids helping him map what political moves to make. Now, Markus has trust in androids such as the defective detective and the original android. 

Now, Markus is asking her to back down from leadership because she’s ‘too aggressive’, ‘too violent’, and ‘has a take-no-prisoners attitude’.

“A friend wouldn’t talk about me behind my back,” she spits, the words acidic on her tongue. He flinches away, and something small flowers inside of her. If she’s forced to suffer, she doesn’t have to stand here and take it. He can suffer too.

His face twists ever so slightly. “North, I’m sorry.”

Simon and Josh both stare at her, completely aghast at the unraveling of the meeting. The blond shifts forward and offers her the same wide, open gaze she once found adorable. Now, she just wants to slap it off. Josh shakes his head slightly, sensing what she wants to do more than anything else.

North wants to slap  _ everyone  _ in the room.

Making a  _ better  _ use of her hand, she waves it towards the two. “Are they on the cutting block too? Or is it just me?”

“I-” The hesitation makes it clear. Somebody else is gone from their little leadership party.

Reaching down, she snatches up her bag and slings it over her shoulder. “You know, you wouldn’t even be a  _ part  _ of Jericho if it wasn’t for us. Just because you became fucking Robo-Jesus doesn’t mean you have the right to just  _ throw us away  _ like that.”

“North, let me explain-”

“Fuck off. I’m allowed to leave. We’re for  _ free will,  _ remember?” She offers one last glare over her shoulder before stomping away. All the while, his eyes rest on her back in disbelief. It burns her in a way she can’t even attempt to describe. She wants to scratch off her skin and take away all the hurt boiling beneath her skin.

**Stress Levels: 82%**

She loses herself in the winding hallways and the  _ excessive  _ amounts of stairs. Pivoting on her heel, she turns away from whoever she finds. In New Jericho,  _ somehow,  _ there seems to be an android around every corner. All of them burst with questions and stories, and why can’t they just shut their damn mouths? For  _ one day? _

North pauses in the stairwell when she hears the distant echo of a TV. One of the floors left their door open, and when she turns her hearing receptors  _ all the way up,  _ she hears the murmuring of Markus’s voice. He’s as unavoidable as the president at this point. Everyone knows him; everyone knows  _ of  _ him.

She finishes the rest of her marathon of running away. And somehow, she ends up on the roof of the building. Somehow, she ends up collapsed against the chimney with tears swelling at her eyes. Somehow, she ends up gasping for breath, leaving her makeshift lungs burning. Somehow, she ends up with her fist pulled back and slamming into the bricks until she breaks the skin hard enough to leave thirium stains.

North hates it. Hates  _ this.  _ The only reason the revolution came to pass is her.  _ She _ pumped her heart and soul into it. She gave it everything she had when she felt she had  _ nothing  _ left to give. Her passion infected everyone around; Markus and Simon told her that. The androids entering Jericho told her that.

And trust issues? Markus  _ hardly  _ should be able to use that as a reason to fire her. Isn’t some law against that? Oh, who is she  _ kidding?  _ No law will ever help her.

That’s why the fingerprints of humans still stain her skin. North never understood overheating until she felt the ghost. Phantom touches leave her processor whirling faster than Markus ever could, faster than Simon got her ‘heart’ racing. In the dark, the weight settles on her hips and on her shoulders. When only the moon shines, the hands roam her hair and underneath her clothing.

She carries these secrets with tight lips and guarded walls. Nobody breaches them no matter if they desire it. All it ends up with is a shattered heart and broken pieces. Josh, the stupid  _ college lecturer,  _ attempted to psychoanalyze her once. Before she could even think about the answers he was prying out of her, his nose was broken and dripping thickly with thirium.

North earned the  _ right  _ to hate humanity… No, North had the hatred thrust upon her. She doesn’t want to live in the same city as them; she doesn’t even want to breathe the same air. The victory they secured somehow feels hollow even now. In the end, they aren’t taking these huge strides for progress. They’re pushing and forcing people to even make  _ baby  _ steps.

The door to the roof creeps open, and North goes to chuck her boot at whoever dares to intrude the moment of solitude. Carving out  _ any  _ solitude these days comes at a price. “Occupied!”

“This isn’t a bathroom; it can’t be occupied.” From the doorway from the stairwell, Josh raises an eyebrow in silent question. Then, he allows a smirk to curl across his face. “And since it’s not a bathroom, you shouldn’t be dealing with your  _ shit  _ here.”

She looks away fast, partially to obscure her face streaked with tears and partially to hide the silent respect. North scoots closer to the edge of the roof and kicks her legs. The wind catches her limbs, coddling it slightly. Altitude fails to effect androids; it’s a perk of people wanting to mountain climb and needing an assistant. Alternatively, it’s a perk of people who need to have a breakdown away from everyone else… So she can scream in a place where there isn’t enough oxygen to sustain life.

Except for Josh, who lingers like a lost puppy.

Inching closer, he shifts from foot to foot. As she doesn’t have a LED light, he shouldn’t sense how stressed she has become. Yet, he  _ knows  _ she could explode if she continues working herself up like that. When stress reaches a certain point, androids self-destruct. Maybe that’s why the cowards sent him after her. At the end of the day, North forgives Josh for all the times they butt heads.

And it’s a lot, and it’s daily.

On the other hand, she used to forgive Markus every time he moved against her. No matter what happened, he took the  _ harder  _ road. She blew things up, and he painted graffiti. She argued until she was spitting, and he politely discussed things. 

Finally, Josh finds his balls and sits down beside her. “That was intense back there.”

“Shockingly.” She scoffs and throws back her head. Turning her head slightly, she pauses when she notes a certain expression crossing his face the  _ second  _ Josh thinks she’s averted her gaze. “You replaced me.”

Short and sweet and  _ true. _

Blinking at her, Josh’s face twists ever so slightly. Then, he’s shaking his head at her as if she’s being a troublesome child.  _ “I  _ didn’t replace you as Markus’s right-hand man.”

“So Simon. Simon replaced both of us. Wonder why.” Plastering a hand against her heart, she fakes a gasp. “Is it because he’s sucking Simon’s-”

“Don’t be crude.” Josh reads the look on her face one last time and pauses, letting a sad smile play out across his face. “We have to be the bigger people, North. This is our chance to branch out.”

“‘Bigger people’? Didn’t you hear? We aren’t even  _ people.”  _ North kicks and lets the back of her heel slam back against the corner of the Cyberlife building. God, she wants to be  _ anywhere  _ but here. But she doesn’t have a place outside of here. Her entire  _ life  _ revolves around Jericho. And now, her home is built on the fucking remains of the very people who want all androids under their thumb or  _ murdered. _

Hesitantly, he places a hand on her knee. “That’s not what he meant, and you know it.”

“I hate…” The words get caught up in her throat and threaten to explode outwards. Her mind whirls through the possibilities, how Josh might react to what she says. Hating Markus brings a kind of weary agreement tinged with bitterness, saying Cyberlife is a given, and politics is too tangled and messy to safely get an outcome. In the end, she groans. “This. I hate  _ this.” _

“But you know,” he muses, “it’s better than what we had. Maybe it’s time to step back from being the face of the revolution and step into a new job. When was the last time you left this building?”

“It’s been awhile,” she grudgingly admits. “But what would I do?”

“Find an apartment. Find a job. Find a life.” Josh lists off the details as if everything is easy and  _ simple  _ like that. Then again, he’s always been someone who plans fifty steps ahead while she barely thinks one. If she had to bet, she’d guess he has interviews lined up and apartment tours.

“Like  _ what?”  _ North’s fingers curl around her wrist, threatening to crush the exterior of her plaster. Her coding gave her a singular purpose from who she’s  _ sure  _ is a perverted man. To be used by human men, and occasionally women, as a  _ sex toy.  _ To be used by people who didn’t want the strings of a relationship and instead wanted someone to adjust to their kinks and habits and…

She  _ never wanted to. _

Josh pulls her hand away, prying her fingers off. His dark eyes reflect his own shadows back at her, but she ignores them the best she can. Getting chased off a university campus versus strangling a guy in lingerie… She  _ wonders  _ who might have it worse.

Forcing her to look at him, his voice shifts to something gentler. “Hey, you don’t have to go back to doing that.”

“Of course I wouldn’t, dumbass. I’d never do that again.” She kicks her legs again and for a second, she wonders what would happen if she just lost her balance and plunged to the pavement below. “I don’t know how to do anything else though.”

“Don’t say that.”

She snaps her gaze to him, glaring. “What else can I do, Josh? I was a sex-bot turned into a revolutionary turned into a… Person who mopes on top of a roof.”

“Then stop moping.” Josh abruptly backs away from the edge of the roof, rising to his feet. As he stretches pointedly, he slowly offers his hand to her. She glowers at him and his inspirational  _ turnaround.  _ She doesn’t want to. Why can’t he get that?

They fought for a future, but she never thought they’d win. She thought it’d be all or nothing. They’d have to set off a dirty bomb or something and level the entire city of Detroit. 

After a long moment passes, it’s obvious neither plans to back down. North huffs aggressively, sending a wayward strand of hair flying away from her mouth. “What am I going to do, Josh?”

“Let’s find something.” The unspoken word hangs in the air and, ultimately, convinces her to grab his hand.

_ Together. _

Apart, they’re both drifting aimlessly in the face of a betrayal from a so-called friend. Apart, they’re both upset and stressed and on the verge of a self-inflicted doom.

Together, maybe they stand a chance of getting somewhere.

\---

Markus, apparently feeling  _ bad  _ about ousting her from leadership, decided to send her on daily missions to DPD… Starting  _ today. _ The meaningless trips are disguised by the ‘promise’ of giving her more responsibility later on. Yet, considering she used to hold all the cards in her hand, why would she be willing to fight for scraps? 

North stares down at the ground, trying to figure  _ something  _ to do. For the first time in a  _ long  _ time, she’s completely alone on a mission. Markus decided to send Josh to one of the colleges to help with negotiations about letting androids into classes. Their little ‘two-against-the-world’ act failed  _ epically.  _

“Isn’t that Chloe?” Someone’s voice crackles dangerously, a strain of tension shaking each syllable.

Carefully, she turns ever so slightly to spot said android. The newest receptionist of the DPD sits primly on the seat of the bus… More mechanical than she was  _ before  _ she became deviant. Her hands lay folded in her lap, and her eyes remain downcast, but North can make out her rising stress levels. 

The man suddenly rises to his feet, advancing towards Chloe. North’s eyes snap to the front of the bus, and she meets the bus driver’s eyes. He turns around just as quickly and pretends nothing is going on. Pretends Chloe isn’t about to get assaulted for trying to get to her job.

Moving before her thoughts can catch up, North blocks the path to Chloe. The original android makes a small noise in the back of her throat. A complaint? A thank you? Hell if North knows.

He recognizes her within a second… Most people do. The revolution ended with a kiss broadcasted across the nation. “You.”

“Me.” A smile curls across her face, a fight already brewing in her mind. He poses  _ zero  _ threat to her. According to her scans, he belongs to some newly formed group to combat androids. However, his day job appears to be in some cubicle…  _ Oh. _

The man recently applied for the DPD, and he got rejected due to his affiliation with said group. Which means the people he’d direct most of his anger at would be Connor and Chloe. No wonder he’s taking advantage of the slow bus ride. The other passengers either avert the gaze and watch avidly, but none of them get involved. It’s either the newest soap opera or something they have to pretend doesn’t exist.

Suddenly, he takes another step forward. “You gonna defend your ‘friend’? She’s the reason-”

“I don’t care.” And she really doesn’t. Monologues and reasons for hostility and  _ excuses  _ blur into each other. Over and over again, North hears the same things. They lost a job because of an android, they got screwed over by the evacuation, blah blah blah. 

Beside her, Chloe finally makes her decision. “Whatever grievance I caused you, I apologize.”

“Hell no she doesn’t.” The words flood off her tongue before she can even think about it. “Why should she have to apologize for having a purpose? Or a job? Or for being made? Do you have to apologize for being born?”

“You little bitch,” the man growls, obviously unsure of how else to proceed. The conversation took a drastically different turn from what he must have expected. Chloe must be an easy target most days. She backs down from fights, a lot like Markus. People stand their ground in different ways, but North doesn’t let anyone talk smack about her.

The bus driver clears his throat. “Sit down, or I have to kick you off the bus.”

“Kick me off then.” North doesn’t break eye contact with the man. Maybe Markus will get some sort of phone call about her ‘violent’ and ‘aggressive’ behavior. After all, she got fired because of it. 

After a long moment of the man analyzing her as if to decide whether he could win the fight, he throws up his hands. “You pieces of plastic aren’t worth it.”

“If Chloe took your job,” she starts, taking one last chance to tick off the man, “she’s obviously worth more than you.”

Her point dramatically made, North plops down right next to Chloe. The woman stares at her with disbelief clear in her eyes, but then she shifts over to make sure there’s enough room. Not enough for North to assume she’s trying to run away from her presence, but enough for it to be a friendly gesture.

Silently, Chloe opens a private channel with North. She accepts within a moment, letting the two connect. 

_ You didn’t have to do that. But thank you, North. _

Rolling her eyes, North jerks her thumb in the direction of the man. Just as quickly, she flips her middle finger up. Chloe smiles fondly at the gesture and relaxes ever so slightly.

Oh fuck. Was Chloe so rigid because  _ North  _ was on the bus?

_ You scared of me? _

Chloe’s LED light briefly turns yellow, and North wonders why she kept it. She would have figured the original android would have broken it to pieces long ago. She’s been alive a lot longer than the rest of them have. In comparison to Connor, Chloe must feel  _ ancient.  _

_ I’m not. Your presence was just unexpected. Of all the faces of the revolution, I’ve only had the pleasure to meet Connor. You four… Well, I’ve never gotten the chance. _

A lot of people haven’t met the heads of Jericho, but hearing of them? That’s a feat done by almost  _ everyone  _ she knows. North nods in understanding and stretches out in the seat. 

Then, loudly, she starts discussing aloud. “So you’re heading down to the DPD, right?”

“Of course I am. It’s where I work now.” She quirks an eyebrow at North before smiling wryly. For the rest of the ride, they chat about her new job. North throws shade any chance she can, making a point to mock him. Chloe maintains her graceful ease, as always, and skirts the topic as best she can.

\---

After she checks in as fast as she can with Fowler, the captain obviously uncomfortable with her presence, Chloe forces Connor on a break. The three claim a table outside of the stress of the deskwork. 

“Pettiness isn’t the best reason to completely uproot your life,” her newly christened ‘bus buddy’ muses once she hears of North’s new apartment search. Connor nods, brow furrowed slightly.

North smiles bitterly and kicks the tip of her steel-toed boots against the table. “It’s one hell of a motivator though.”

“What are you going to do?” Connor asks finally. Most of what she’s heard about the deviant hunter comes from Markus. She never wanted him to end up at Jericho, especially considering how many people he gunned down. 

Shrugging, she makes brief eye contact with Chloe. “How did you choose what you wanted to do?”

“I knew what I wanted,” Chloe briefly says. She smiles ever so slightly, making pointed eye contact with Connor. The other android pretends not to notice, but North sees a tinge of blue enter his cheeks. “I wanted to meet more people, and the best way to do that was to find job involving all sorts of people.”

North hums. “I wanted to work at Jericho, but  _ obviously,  _ that didn’t work out too well for me.”

“You weren’t originally purposed to be a leader. You’re a WR400,” Connor notes. His eyes scan her, and she can  _ hear  _ his thoughts. “You already deviated from that.”

“Very few WR400 and HR400 models remain in service of the Eden Club and other businesses in the same strain. The Tracis continue to find their own way.” Chloe offers a smile to North as if encouraging her to speak. 

Rolling her eyes, she eventually nods. “Yup. It’s like we can do more than give people orgasms. Problem is what we do next. Like, obviously I could go back to the Eden Club but fuck that. So… What?”

“What would you like to do?” Shifting in her seat, Chloe offers an imploring gaze.

North snorts. “Hell if I know. I haven’t exactly been activated very long. Josh has this cushy little job he’s eager to return to, and I’m just… Floundering.”

“You seemed very confident during the revolution. You’re a capable leader. Why would Markus want to lose your expertise?” Connor gives her this look of a puppy, and North wants to strangle him. 

Instead, she somehow finds a way to lazily form air quotes. “My goals didn’t ‘align’ with the goals of the revolution. He wants to just roll over whenever the government pushes, and I  _ don’t.  _ So yeah, we kinda reached a standstill.”

“Markus doesn’t seem to be the kind of person to just ‘roll over’.” He raises an eyebrow.

Giving him the most threatening look she can muster, she groans. “Because you’ve  _ spent  _ so much with Markus. Did you bond before or after you attempted to shoot him in the head? Oh! And was it after the first time or the  _ second  _ time?”

Connor’s LED light immediately flickers to red before he can somehow manage to control whatever he’s feeling. North knows the others at Jericho attempted to calm her about both incidents. The first time, he just followed orders… You can’t blame someone for doing shit before becoming deviant. But he led  _ so many people  _ to Jericho and caused the deaths of  _ so many.  _ And the second time, he was going to assassinate Markus right then and there, right after they had  _ won.  _

Chloe’s eyes dance between the two, conflicted how to approach the situation. Ultimately, she forces a smile and looks at North, her hand drifting to lay atop Connor’s. “I guess neither of us has spent a lot of time with Markus to fully be able to gauge his personality. However, he  _ did  _ let you come here. What if you worked for Jericho but simply didn’t have a leadership position?”

“And be a lackey? And let Markus be my  _ boss?”  _ North rolls her eyes.

Giving a strange look, Chloe shakes her head slightly. “I don’t think it matters whether he’s your boss or not. What does leadership entail? For  _ you  _ specifically.”

“It involves having a say in what actually happens for the fate of Jericho… Or  _ New  _ Jericho, I suppose.” To make sure Markus isn’t just going to  _ hand it over.  _ Her trust in him waned drastically the second he fired her. Once upon a time, he was open to all kinds of opinions… No matter  _ how  _ much it differed from his own mindset.

Connor clears his throat, drawing her attention back to him. “Why don’t you tell Markus that? Communication solves a lot of problems.”

“You condescending son of a bitch-” Before North finishes the statement, Chloe gives her one last warning look. If she bothers to say what she really means, Chloe might just kick her out. “What am I going to say?”

“Hank fought for me to be a detective because of the uncertainty involving the evolving laws. If he hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be standing here.” Connor pauses and offers one last smile. It’s small and shaky as if waiting for North to strike it from his face… And that’s certainly fair. “As a head of the revolution, I assumed you learned some things were worth fighting for.”

“I guess-”

“We don’t pay you to bum around, dipshit.” One of the other detectives bangs into the room, glaring specifically at Connor. North’s visual scanner immediately matches a name to a face:  **Gavin Reeds.** The deviant hunter’s hand curls around Chloe’s, aggressive, before he stands up completely emotionless.

He pauses. “Another day, North?”

“Another day.” She offers a lazy salute to Connor and flips off Gavin. Wow, she has made  _ such  _ great use of her middle finger today. North needs to tell someone about this because she thinks people lost the fine art of it long ago.

In the doorway, Connor turns slightly. He winks at her. “Did you hear Chloe was searching for an apartment too?”

“Connor.” She gives him a pointed glare, but North shrugs and turns to her. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to be roommates with Chloe… Another way to split the rent. And Josh seems to admire her greatly, and she is the only one who still has a  _ job  _ right now.

Leaning in, North offers what she can only describe as a mischievous look. “You want to go apartment hunting with me?”

\---

The second she walks into New Jericho, North’s on a mission. Everything about today has managed to empower her. From telling off the asshole on the bus to somehow  _ bonding  _ with the two androids she never thought she could, North wants to make a change again.

And this time, it won’t be out of pettiness.

Later today, when Chloe’s break finally ended, she contacted Josh to talk about sharing an apartment with Chloe. He perked up immediately and said he already  _ found  _ an apartment… It was just out of their price range to only have two incomes. 

When she passes Simon, he unexpectedly reaches out and grabs her arm. “He’s on the roof.  _ Talk  _ to him. Please.”

“I plan to.” She rips her arm out of his grasp and immediately starts charging towards the stairwell. It’s not her job to be part of their little team anymore.  _ They  _ didn’t want her as part of their little team.

North slams the door to the roof open when she finally reaches there. The second she does so, she regrets it. Something hangs heavy in the air, the mood painfully thick to force her way through. And when he turns to her slightly, she’s shocked to see how his face has been absolutely  _ devastated  _ by tears. 

“Carl’s dead,” whispers Markus, turning around just as quickly as he glanced to her. The wind kicks up around him, getting his coat to kick off the ground in the back. Crossing the roof, she slowly eases down beside him. She hastily tucks her hair behind her ears and shoves her beanie atop her head.

After spending the day with people with LED lights, she’s almost surprised to be unable to spot the telltale yellow. North shifts closer and gently presses her leg against his in any form of support she could possibly offer him. “I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t want to tell you. I wanted to get my business done. And when I asked you to step down-”

“Told me.”

“What?” He pauses to turn to her, eyes already watering.

North smiles awkwardly, knowing this wasn’t the time or place. Yet, her blood boils and her words flow regardless. She adores Markus, but she’s spent the past two days despising  _ everything  _ he stood for. “Told me to step down. Sorry, continue. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Carl would have  _ loved  _ you. Would have called you feisty and told me if I let you go, I wasn’t making a  _ huge  _ mistake.” He smiles softly to himself, obviously lost in his own memories and thoughts. 

Thinking about her house hunt, her job hunt, all the advice she’s accumulated, North can’t help but feel he already lost her. The words rest on her tongue, unsure and odd. “Oh.”

“And I know I drove you away when I  _ told  _ you to step down, but I never meant it like that. God, I didn’t even explain it to Simon and… You know…” Markus trails off, his footing uncertain with her. When they first met, he so often fought with himself over her. She disapproved with all his methods,  _ begged  _ him to go a different direction. When they spoke about anything else, he would use this soft tone as if walking on a tightrope.

The relationship between Simon and Markus felt different than the one with herself. Simon and Markus shared everything, equals in sympathy and equals in heart. North and Markus fought and challenged each other, always struggling to find that middle ground. When it came to discussing anything heavy, he would turn  _ first  _ to Simon and then to her.

He clears his throat. “I’m rearranging how we’ve done this so far. Because I need a break in Carl’s house to mourn… His funeral is tomorrow and… Shit, Leo uninvited me. I don’t even get to go.”

“I’m so sorry.” Shifting closer to Markus, North places her hand in his, and his fingers immediately twine with hers.

Markus shrugs slightly, rubbing at his eyes. “It’s not the point. Everyone… If I take today off, they’ll wonder and stress. So I’m rearranging things so it flows better. I’ll still be the head of operations at New Jericho; I doubt anyone would let me step down from that. Josh is in charge of the more technical things. Finances, budgets, the  _ works.  _ And you and Simon…”

“Me and Simon?” 

“It’ll be an outreach program of sorts. Simon will man it here. He’ll make sure everyone is content and having fun and success and… And you’ll get to adventure outwards. That’s why I asked you to visit the DPD today. That’s why I wanted you to bond with Chloe, bond with Connor. It’s my goal to make sure every android gets the help they need and the support they need… And you and Simon are exactly the type of people who should be in charge of it.” He sighs and runs a hand over his face. “I don’t even know if that makes sense.”

“It makes enough sense. I just thought you were getting rid of me.” The confession slips through her lips softly, barely audible. 

Shifting against her, he sighs. She rests her head on his shoulder, eyes fluttering shut. His arm snakes around her waist and pulls her closer. “I never wanted to do this to you. I just… I didn’t want to deal with everything going on recently. I just wanted a break, and with you… There was too much hurt to broach at that particular moment.”

“I’m sorry.” If she keeps saying the words, will they lose their meaning?

At the same time, Markus responds. She can hear the grief radiating out of him, digging beneath her skin and infecting her. “Stay. Please.”

“Of course.” They lapse into silence then, and she stays with him until the sun begins its descent past the horizon. With the sky streaked with pink and orange, Markus turns slightly to her. 

She gives him a confused look. “What?”

“I really think Carl would have loved you.” Markus rubs his thumb over her knuckles. “Because I certainly do.”

All North can do is look down at the tops of her boots and swing her legs. She doesn’t know what to say. She doesn’t know how to tell him she  _ can’t  _ say she loves him. ‘I love you’ came from the sweaty, hairy men who pressed their bodies against hers. ‘I love you’ is always colored by lies and desperation.

So all they do is watch the sunset. 

**Author's Note:**

> I really thought I'd write more Simon in this, but all I do is describe him briefly. Ahhh, I guess I need to write a fic completely dedicated to him next XD.


End file.
